


Five Foster Homes Daniel Lived In

by jdjunkie



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Gen, five things
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-08
Updated: 2012-05-08
Packaged: 2017-11-05 01:27:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 708
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/400407
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jdjunkie/pseuds/jdjunkie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An orphaned boy, his journal and his thoughts.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Five Foster Homes Daniel Lived In

1 Dear Journal,  
  
Today, Jeannie brought me to Mr and Mrs Johnson’s house. It’s big and there’s a huge garden and an old tree with a swing. They seem nice. Jeannie says they’re not my “forever family.” I told her I didn’t need one. I already have a “forever family”. They just aren’t here any more.  
  
  
2 Dear Journal,  
  
When I got back to the Johnsons’ house yesterday – they insist I call it home but it isn’t – there was a police car outside. Mrs Johnson was crying. Mr Johnson had collapsed on the stairs and died.  
  
It was very sudden, Jeannie said. He wouldn’t have suffered. Not like my mom and dad. Sometimes, at night, when I’m alone and it’s quiet, I can still hear my mom screaming.  
  
Everyone was very kind. They didn’t want me to see the body. I said I wasn’t scared. Jeannie took me for ice cream.   
  
Later, Jeannie took to me to Mrs Canning’s house. She’s pretty old. Not old like the pyramids old, but she’s at least 50, and her kitchen smells of baked apples.  
  
I liked Mr Johnson but I don’t feel sad. I don’t think I feel anything.  
  
  
3 Dear Journal.  
  
Jeannie said Mrs Canning’s was a “temporary, emergency placement” and I couldn’t stay. I liked her. She had lots of books about travel and she liked hearing about Egypt. I was upset one day because in the move between foster homes I’d lost the senet game my dad gave me. She bought me a checkers board instead. It wasn’t the same but it was kind.  
  
Mrs Canning never really asked about my parents. No-one wants to talk about them. I think they think it will upset me but it won’t. I want to talk about them. I wonder if anyone will ever listen?  
  
Yesterday, Jeannie took me to live with the Bergmann family. They have a dog called Patch (because it has a brown mark over one eye) and a cat called Winsome. They don’t get on. The cat and dog, not the Bergmanns, who seem friendly but I don’t think they’re really interested in me. Jeannie says they want a child to adopt but I’m not available for adoption because my grandpa won’t sign some forms or something. He doesn’t want me but he doesn’t want anyone else to have me. That’s what it feels like. Or maybe he just doesn’t care that much.  
  
  
4 Dear Journal,  
  
The Bergmanns found a child to adopt. A baby girl. So last week, I moved to stay with Mr and Mrs Coulson.  
  
I don’t like it here. They argue a lot, over money I think. I’m just a way to generate some income. I saw that phrase in an economics book I picked up at school. I don’t think money and possessions will ever interest me. I only need me, and some books, preferably history books.  
  
I don’t need anyone.  
  
It’s easier that way.  
  
I wonder if Patch misses me.   
  
  
5 Dear Journal,  
  
I found this diary when I was moving boxes into my new quarters. And, yes, they’re temporary, until I get an apartment. But this temporary feels more like a step on the road to somewhere, rather than simply a place to be until somewhere new comes along.  
  
I haven’t written anything here since I was ten.  
  
I’m older now but probably not much wiser. I hardly recognize the boy who wrote those words, although, in some ways, he’s all too familiar. I think he was lonely and unhappy, although he probably didn’t realize it.  
  
Today, I’m … happier. I have a new life. I’m a part of something extraordinary, something I never could have imagined when I was caught up in the care system.  
  
In that first entry, I said I didn’t need a “forever family.” I think I was wrong. But families come in many forms and I think I may have found one. Finally. It’s an odd family, but then, there are those who think I’m a little odd, so it’s probably a match made in heaven.  
  
I’m glad I kept this journal. Maybe I’ll look up some of those not-forever families and say thanks. Let them know that Daniel Jackson thinks he’s finally found a home.


End file.
